David Silos Graduation Celebration

Introduction

The Day I Met David.

What I learned from David:

Whataburger ketchup may in fact be worth drinking out of the container.

Corn tortillas, cottage cheese, and salsa is actually quite tasty.

Teenage boys can be just as flexible as olympic gymnasts.

Someone can love veggietales, baptist hymnal standards, and modern music all at the same time.

What true joy looks like (When he is dancing to his favorite song while playing his guitar).

You don’t have to be able to talk to love people.

God puts people in our lives to change us and teach us.

Our value comes from God, not our abilities.

God can use you and your abilities for His glory.

As you can see, David was a good teacher. I believe God used him in many lives to teach about the Kingdom of God. As I thought about this most important quality, I couldn’t get out of my head. Let’s take a look at it and see what the Lord has to say.

Text

Matthew 18:1–5 CSB

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “So who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child and had him stand among them. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.

This discussion may have come up because of Jesus’ special treatment of Peter, James, and John.

Often in that culture, people could get wrapped up in status within a kingdom or government.

Children were considered powerless. Their status was wrapped up in who their father and mother was. They were appreciated and loved within that culture, but no children actually had any status of their own to boast of.

Body

We tend to be caught up in climbing the ladder of status.

Jesus had just finished telling them about how he was going to be killed and raised up on the third day, and they want to talk about who is the greatest.

Another beautiful thing David taught me is to be content. He of course wasn’t perfect in this, but I witnessed David love his life that God had given him without this incessant need to have more popularity, possessions, or pride.

This world will lead you to places of emptiness. True contentment can only be found in Jesus.

Jesus calls us to unnaturally turn.

Jesus responds to their question by bringing a child over to them and telling them as teenagers and adults to become like this child. This wasn’t a simple request to clean up their lives. This was a demand for a radical shift to child-like humility and faith.

Maybe because it was all that he could have, but David showed us what this faith looked like. It wasn’t dependent upon a specific kind of music. It wasn’t dependent upon a specific kind of preaching. It wasn’t dependent on a specific kind of church. It was SOLE dependence on his Savior, Jesus, who is the only one who can provide him with what he truly needed, salvation.

To go from thinking like and adult to a child is no easy, natural thing. However, it can begin when you begin to depend on Jesus for salvation and direction in your life, like a child depends on his parent. Though it may feel unnatural, it is the GREATEST thing you will ever do. It is the GREATEST thing David ever did. Jesus doesn’t call you to anything He hasn’t already done.

Jesus calls us to open arms.

He concludes this little segment of His teaching by stating that those who welcome a humbled child like this welcomes Him, the author and perfecter of our faith who showed the greatest example of humility by coming here in the first place and dying for us!

When you welcome someone like David into your life, expect him/her to teach you about humility, faith, hope, and love.

Conclusion

As I spoke with the Silos’ on Thursday, one thing was made abundantly clear. Today is supposed to celebrate the life that David had and magnify the name of Jesus. So before I invite Joel to come and share about our closing song, I want to pray and ask Jesus to help us become like children and place our faith in Him, whether for the believer who needs encouragement or for someone in this room today that wants to follow the example of Jesus that David gave us and put their faith in Jesus today.